Gun pointed at Justin Hemmes, court told

Sydney nightclub mogul Justin Hemmes was in the bathroom of his Excelsior Hotel when he received a call telling him the pub was being robbed.

As he stepped out to investigate, a man in a balaclava pointed a gun at him and told him not to move.

Mr Hemmes gave evidence on Thursday at the trial of three men charged with robbing a string of bars in 2011, including the Excelsior Hotel, raking in around $200,000 in cash, and $100,000 from the Malabar RSL.

Nathan Thomas Stuart, 29, is accused of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from eastern Sydney homes and pubs over five months in 2011, along with Laurence Glover, 26, and another 28-year-old man known only as BC.

At about 11pm on June 7, 2011, two masked men stole $7000 from the till at Mr Hemmes' Surry Hills bar, only 15 minutes after a hold up at a hotel in Erskineville.

"As I exited the door into the main area there was a guy standing just in front of me, and he turned to face me and put a gun up to me and told me not to move," Mr Hemmes told the Downing Centre District Court in Sydney.

Witnesses described the driver of the getaway car honking his horn as police arrived only minutes after the robbers entered the bar.